It’s safe to say there’s no “Surface Tension” here, as we got to chat with a bubbly Genevieve Stokes fresh off the release of her debut EP, Swimming Lessons.
The singer-songwriter draws inspiration from her hometown in Portland, Maine, even shooting her music video for “Surface Tension” in the New England State.
She recorded Swimming Lessons over the past year, examining her time in high school through dreamy piano accompanies and visceral storytelling.
In our interview with Stokes, we learned all about what drives her, where she draws inspiration for her music, and what she’s most looking forward to.
BTS: How long have you been performing and doing music?
GS: I started writing music when I was eight, and I started performing around that same time with my friend, Liam, at an open mic, where I would perform every month.
BTS: What keeps you making music and what drives you to keep going with it?
GS: I think it’s my form of therapy, and I feel very compelled to do it. I don’t try to force it, because I know that when I really want to write a song, I’ll just get this feeling like “okay, it’s time to write a song.” So it’s definitely something that feels like a very large part of me.
BTS: What are your favorite things to write about?
GS: I love writing about relationships and not even my own, like I think that it’s really fun to examine other people’s relationships and write from the perspective of someone else, or like kind of from a third party. And also just like kind of overarching concepts about life and love.
BTS: Where do you get inspiration for that?
GS: I think that I just write about the things I think about a lot. I think people are so interesting and the music that I really enjoy listening to tells a story and makes you feel like you’re a part of something.
BTS: How would you describe your sound to someone who’s never heard your music before?
GS: I guess, it’s like soulful pop and experimental in some ways. It’s songwriting first for me, I always write music and then produce it so it’s about the story and then the production builds on to that.
BTS: What is your songwriting process?
GS: I usually start with a melody. I just record myself singing random things until lyrics start to come out, and then I write those down, after listening back to them.
BTS: What is one thing that you would want fans to take away from Swimming Lessons?
GS: It’s all about my high school experience and just growing up. I think it’s a very universal theme, this feeling of not being fully secure in yourself yet and kind of figuring out who you are. I just hope people can connect to that feeling.
BTS: Can you talk a little bit about the inspiration behind “Parking Lot”?
GS: It was after I met my now boyfriend and I felt such an instant connection with him and it was just so familiar. I went through a very long time of being obsessed with him. It was just about creating that world with someone and creating these fantasies of what your relationship will look like, and I mean it worked out in my case, but I feel like it sometimes can be a little toxic to focus so much on it. I think it’s also when you meet someone that you really like for the first time and you get that indescribable feeling.
BTS: If you weren’t doing music what do you think you would be doing instead?
GS: Honestly, I never really had a clear backup option. I’m very interested in psychology though, and I think therapy, I’ve considered being a therapist in the past. So, maybe that. It’s actually interesting because those kind of go together, like music is a form of therapy. There are certain characteristics that are similar.
BTS: We love the album art and how the lyrics are on notebook paper and everything’s kind of dreamy and artsy. How much of that did you design and create?
GS: Oh, it was actually my friend, Abbie Petri, who is also my creative director. We work together on everything, we do music video treatments and PR photos and stuff all together. So, it’s a combination of both of our ideas.
BTS: What’s next for you? What can fans expect in the next few years?
GS: I am currently working on an album. It’s a bunch of songs that I have written throughout the past couple of years since the EP. I’m super excited because it feels like a new phase in my life, and new stories and things that I can’t wait to share with people. I have been really focused on the visual aspects of the whole cycle world that I’m creating, and music videos and set design, so I’m just really focused on that right now. I’m so excited about the future, and I’m really looking forward to building off this EP, and I’m so excited to have it out.
Keep up with Genevieve Stokes on Twitter: @hiigenevieve
Stream Swimming Lessons on Spotify here:
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